Design and Construction of a New Metering Hot Box for the In Situ Hygrothermal Measurement in Dynamic Conditions of Historic Masonries

Abstract

The main purpose of the HeLLo project is to contribute to data available on the literature on the real hygrothermal behavior of historic walls and the suitability of insulation technologies. Furthermore, it also aims at minimizing the energy simulation errors at the design phase and at improving their conservation features. In this framework, one of the preliminary activities of the study is the creation of a real in situ hot box to measure and analyze different insulation technologies applied to a real historic wall, to quantify the hygrothermal performance of a masonry building. Inside this box, ‘traditional’ experiments can be carried out: recording heat flux, surface temperature, and air temperatures, as well as relative humidity values through the use of a new sensing system (composed of thermocouples and temperature/relative humidity combined sensors). Within this paper, the process of development, construction, and validation of this new metering box is exhibited. The new hot box, specifically studied for historic case studies, when compared to other boxes, presents other advantages compared to previous examples, widely exemplified.

Heritage Reconstruction Planning, Sustainability Dimensions, and the Case of the Khaz’al Diwan in Kuwait

“…In this case, the moisture content increased significantly-for example with the rockwool type of insulation. While this is understandable, for other types of material, such as EPS insulation, the moisture content showed very little difference under conditioned building environments and when assessing the impact of the thermal conductivity under constant and variable temperature with different levels of moisture content [40][41][42][43].…”

“…The provision of energy saving solutions and strategies for heritage buildings, for better environmental protection, has begun to receive wider attention, particularly since the 2010s [37][38][39][40][41][42]. Reducing energy consumption is an especially important challenge in the Gulf's climatic conditions.…”

Applied Research of the Hygrothermal Behaviour of an Internally Insulated Historic Wall without Vapour Barrier: In Situ Measurements and Dynamic Simulations

“…As this room is 700 m 3 , aiming to minimize energy consumption and the impacts on the historic room, two in situ metering hot boxes adapted for HB were constructed, aiming to improve the overall experiment sustainability [38], i.e., two small rooms with controlled indoor hygrothermal conditions were created, inside a big, unoccupied and environmentally uncontrolled room.…”

“…Besides its special features (0.10 m high density stone wool insulation material, lined with a vapour barrier on the inside), each box was provided of a 2000 W heating convector (with 3 power levels), regulated by control system; two ultrasonic humidifiers (argo HYDRO digit, Argoclima S.p.A., Alfianello, Italy), 30 W each, self-regulated, which permitted controlling the indoor comfort parameters, Figure 6. The newly developed metering boxes (construction technology fully described in [38]) were built from a modular timber structure and provided with wheels, so that they can be (dis)assembled, repositioned and/or hereafter used in other spaces/experiments ( Figure 5). Besides minimizing the impacts of the experiment on the room's surrounding walls, these also permitted improving the experiment energy efficiency.…”

“…To perform the in situ monitoring campaigns, authors used a non-commercial setup: they have developed a specifically built-up sensing technology method for the hygrothermal assessment of historic walls [45], later upgraded and tuned [38] to fit the requirements of the HeLLo project [33]. In brief, a low-cost and conservation compatible technology based on temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH) combined sensors (Telaire T9602, Amphenol Thermometrics, Inc. St. Marys, PA, USA) was used to measure the T-RH parameters of the environmental conditions ( Figure 7a)-outdoor, inside the room and inside the box (herein considered the indoor environment), and The newly developed metering boxes (construction technology fully described in [38]) were built from a modular timber structure and provided with wheels, so that they can be (dis)assembled, repositioned and/or hereafter used in other spaces/experiments ( Figure 5). Besides minimizing the impacts of the experiment on the room's surrounding walls, these also permitted improving the experiment energy efficiency.…”